Name: Morgenthau Residence/
Jeremy Levine Design
Style: 2 story Craftsman bungalow
We were in the process of gathering information and photos for an upcoming house tour sent to us by the local team over at Jeremy Levine Design when we noticed one of their past projects is a home we walk/drive past on a regular basis...a Craftsman home that went from a state of dilapidation to a modern-meets-vintage renovated space. Dark corners of the home's interior were opened up to let more light in while retaining the characteristic architectural aspects of Craftsman design which regulate temperature through the use of light filtering and shade. The Silver Lake home is also a shining example of infusing eco-friendly solutions to a major renovation, with the inclusion of a rooftop garden, casement windows, drought tolerant landscaping, extended eaves to shade incoming sunlight, the use of reclaimed lumber and low VOC paints used throughout. We love knowing the house was saved to be loved for decades to come and the results can be enjoyed during our neighborhood walks (maybe we can finagle an invite inside soon)...
Jeremy Levine of Jeremy Levine Design details the Morgenthau Residence: The main aesthetic challenge was to find what aspects of the Craftsman Style to perverse while, eliminating the warren of small, dark spaces. The roof floats off the walls and the hinged opening glazed to create clerestory windows. Deep drawers slide out of the walls. The storage space is harvested from the adjacent first floor roof attic. The clerestory windows also allow light to bounce into the house from the large overhanging eaves, lowering solar gain and keeping the need for artificial lighting to a minimum.
In response, long vistas were carved through the house with new elements arranged along the axis to create a deep, layered depth of field. The walls of the interior were punctured with openings and the ceiling vaulted to erase the former claustrophobia. Light enters the house in oblique ways, such as through clerestories shaded by deep eaves or interior transom windows.
The rear wall of the kitchen is filled with sliding glass doors that lead to a deck and a secondary eating area. The glass doors are shaded by a red wood trellis that modulates the intense Southern light while connecting the house to the garden.
A rotating steel fireplace is framed in a thick stone wall of quartzite that also anchors one end of the trellis. The stone wall is perforated with deep openings to connect the kitchen to the dining room while maintaining a sense of separation. Typical of some craftsman homes is the problem of warren-like, honeycomb interior spaces, filled with walls and small corridors. This remodel carves light filled space through the once claustrophobic interior. A rotating fireplace marks the central axis of the house.
Instead of enclosing the master bathroom, it became part of the main room, defined by the Quartzite stone tile on the walls. The large stone clad tub sits in the room like a throne, poised by a window to view the hills or to allow one to kick back and gaze up at the big roof overhead.
The w/c is concealed behind a sliding white glass door. In order to avoid feeling like a closet, the space is vaulted to the ceiling and flooded with light from clerestory windows at the top of the walls.
(Photos by Jeremy Levine)
eek!
view quiltmaster's profile
That first picture is a cubist nightmare. I couldn't even figure out what I was seeing. They need to take it easy with the rectangles .
view MansardRoof's profile
i love this. i think it is very well done and inspiring to those of us with older homes. well done.
view portlandsunshine's profile
There's nothing much Craftsman left about it :-(
view michpc's profile
Meh... no likey.
view mollymcg's profile
I like the patio. That's the only nice thing I can say. And I don't know how anyone can consider this inspiring if they cherish older homes. For the author to say "this remodel carves light filled space through the once claustrophobic interior" is really telling. The rooms in Craftsman-style houses were not "claustrophobic," just cozy and perfectly suited to the needs of the people who lived in them when they were built. In many parts of the country, Craftsman-style houses are highly valued--even the tiny, run-of-the-mill (then) Sears kit houses. Maybe people who don't value the heritage of that style of architecture should build new houses rather than destroy the integrity of existing ones. I am sorry to sound negative but this post made me really sad. :(
view sally305's profile
i love the natural wood - and the fact that it's in my hometown: silverlake!
view snowinla's profile
The entry gate and walls... I've seen this look in many Californian houses, but I don't understand what is being referenced.
The kitchen/living area is divine, but the bedroom looks like a regional Denny's and that bathroom corner is just schizophrenic.
view JoeyBrill's profile
The stone tiles, on their own, look earthy and nice, but when they were used in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and even for covering the bathtub, I started wishing there was more variety in tile selection.
Also, the stone tiles throughout the home were all lined straight up, edge to edge, making me long for more creative positioning of the tiles (i.e. on a diagonal, staggered as in how bricks are laid, etc.)
view gekko's profile
I love that I have the same fireplace as them. It spins around from room to room :)
Yippeee!
view medusa12120's profile
Now why would anyone do that to a perfectly nice Craftsman...
view Anet500's profile
I think that there a a few very nice design elements here, but overall, it seems a little confusing with the mish-mash of MCM (cool bedroom), boring contemporary (bathroom and fireplace area-a little bit of a slate tile overload), and [very few] Craftsman nods. I do however love the porch, all of the natural light and windows, and the trees and greenery that seem to surround the home.
view dsigninslc's profile
no.
view creative*type's profile
These people have ruined this charming house. Was there a sale on slate?! That perimeter fence, it's a visual assault is what it is.
view jacksonlalonde's profile
Is it "Gorgeous House & Apartment Day" on AT?!! I am loving all of the posts I see today!!!
view jeffnyc's profile
Hmm. I agree with some of the other comments here. It just seems like maybe they didn't really want a craftsman to begin with. The windows, the ceilings, some of the material choices...sorry. :-\
view graciela's profile
One one level, I do enjoy what they did in the basic esthetics, then again, they did away w/ the home's charms, even if it seemed claustrophobic in size.
We are so used to living in open spaces that when we go into homes like a typical bungalow, the rooms feel so small and that would be the first inclination and thus the tearing out of small rooms. I'd agree taking the small kitchen and the butler's pantry and combining them into a more efficient kitchen but that'd be it probably on the wall moving in such an old home.
That said, I feel the overal execution could be better and they used a lot of the same materials throughout and it just doesn't seem terribly original to me.
I"m not in love w/ the fencing and it kind of hides the house.
view ciddyguy's profile
I think the place wasn't in good repair before, and while I don't love it, it's not awful. The exterior is still pretty Craftsman.
http://best-modern-house-design.blogspot.com/2009/03/contemporary-craftsman.html
But for a site that runs a Smallest Coolest site, I notice that these places that get expanded beyond their original footprints sure get a lot of notice. Have I ever seen a real Craftsman interior here?
view FantasticMrFaux's profile
I love these serene colors.
view baileyb's profile